Girl, 17, Who Went Missing Suggests She Didn’t Have Much Choice in the Matter

It was a “very emotional reunion” for a 17-year-old teenage girl after she rejoined her family over 1,000 miles from where she disappeared from her bedroom. And now she’s placing the blame on the 27-year-old high school coach she was missing with.

A massive search up and down the East Coast began soon after Caitlyn Frisina was found missing from her parents’ home in Columbia County in northern Florida. Authorities soon figured out that she was likely with a family friend, Rian Rodriguez, who coached the boys soccer team at her high school and was an assistant coach for Frisina’s girls soccer team.

Frisina’s parents begged for the public’s help in finding their daughter as sightings rolled in early last week as the pair traveled north through Georgia and the Carolinas. Then, for a few days, any leads into their whereabouts went cold.

Authorities, however, were banking on Frisina and Rodriguez traveling to Philadelphia, New York, or Canada, where they had relatives. Their hunch seemed true after the pair was pulled over in Syracuse, New York last Friday in a car that matched the description in the missing child posters. Rodriguez was taken into custody and Frisina was reunited with her parents, who traveled up to New York.

"We had a very beautiful, wonderful, very emotional reunion with her a little while ago. We are so thankful to have her back," her mother Scarlett told ABC News Saturday afternoon.

Now her daughter is speaking out against Rodriguez, who is being held on a charge of interference with a child’s custody and appeared court on Monday, according to ABC News.

According to an affidavit obtained by People, Frisina told a high school friend that “she didn’t know how to get out [of her relationship with Rodriguez] and, if she did, he would mess up her life.”

Columbia County Sheriff Mark Hunter backed up the claim, according to ABC News, “was influenced by someone who was in control, was in a supervisory role. That shouldn't be. She’s got a lot of growing up to do even though she’s a very strong young lady.”

One of Caitlyn's friends says Caitlyn "hooked up with Rian and he worked his way into her life."

Rodriguez, allegedly, was also pressuring her to cross the border into Canada with him. Frisina’s cellphone was found in her bedroom erased, but investigators were able to retrieve enough data off of it to suggest a sexual relationship between the teen and the coach. Additional charges for Rodriguez are possible.

"We are looking forward to a lot more time together and being able to get back home and move forward as a family," Scarlett said concerning her daughter on Saturday.

Please pray for restoration for Frisina with her family and for healing from the damage done by this relationship. In more tragic missing child news, the boyfriend of the mother of the 3-year-old girl who was found dead in North Carolina is facing a judge over his possible involvement.